How viral video can save the music industry

The Justin Bieber phenomenon is only the latest youngster to hit the top of the charts after being discovered on YouTube.

AdMaven Nicholas Kinports goes into some detail about how YouTube has replaced TV as a platform for showcasing/marketing hot musical talent. And echoes British actor, writer and director Peter Serafinowicz's lament that physical media is disappearing.

"If our industry as a whole won’t come off of our high horse of pricing [physical] albums at $13.99 to match or best digital prices, consumers won't see records on the shelves anymore.

If they aren’t buying it at Best Buy and they aren’t buying it at Target where are they buying it? The answer is they aren’t. They are streaming it on sites like YouTube and Facebook" a source at Universal Music Group told Kinports. "Music has become so fluid you can literally listen to it anywhere you want. It’s not confined to a car or iPod. The music industry has to figure out a way for them to pay for it without paying for it. The artists have to be sold in a different way.”

Again, the solution being forwarded is radical, but already being done by independents: give your music away for free.

But where's the profit? Kinports thinks it would come from releasing a limited number of physical media and selling them as collector's items at $100 a pop.

He might be onto something. If physical media becomes rare, it becomes worth something.